My walk alongside the cliff is utterly uneventful, and I quickly grow so bored that I start actively looking for things of interest as I stroll along the more or less never changing cliff side.
Minutes turn into hours as I continue my search for a more scalable spot up along the massive cliff and the sun's position keeps getting lower and lower on the horizon. Before long the last of the sun can be seen just above the tree-tops of the massive trees to my right, which strangely enough means that I still have a few hours of daylight left as these trees are simply just stupidly tall and covers the sun long before it actually sets beyond the horizon.
"So, I guess I need to start looking for a camping spot for the night… There is no way I will even attempt climbing this cliff in the dark. I know how that would end; With me falling." I mumble as I start looking for a place where I can get some more shelter than everywhere else around me. "A cave would be nice right about now…" I comment absently as I continue my search for a good campsite for the night.
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And yet, even after another hour of walking along, the only thing of use that I found was a small spring where I refilled my water-skins. There is no signs of any change in scalability on the cliff side (pun intended) and neither were any changes for the better on the campsite search side, so I simply gave up and randomly picked a spot to build my campfire and promptly got to work.
As I am becoming something of an expert on throwing together a campsite by now from all my (involuntary) camping lately, it didn't take me long to find enough firewood for the night, build and have the campfire lit up and roaring.
"Now, if only I had something to eat…" I mumble as I stare at the roaring fire absently for a long moment.
Looking up at the sky, the sun must have started sinking beyond the horizon as the light has started to wane. "I have another hour, max to find something to eat… I better get going." I say before sighing and tiredly getting up from the log which I laboriously moved next to my campfire from the tree line and set off to go and search for something editable.
"I better not be attacked again; I'm really not in the mood. I'll set fire to the whole god-damned forest, I swear!" I mutter irritatedly as I set off into the forest in search of something to eat.
~~~~~ {¢°.°}¶ ~~~~~
There was good and bad news with my search: Bad news: I found jack-shit to eat.
The good news though? I wasn't attacked by anything.
"Haa… Whatever. I'll just drink some water and sleep it off. Not like there's anything else I can do anyway…" I mutter to myself and lay down to sleep a safe distance from the fire.
"Here's to hoping tomorrow will be better." I say and shut my eyes.
It only takes a few minutes before I am fast asleep.
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I get awoken from my slumber by a chilling wind that sets my body to shivering and shaking and I promptly sit up in a hurry as I clamp my arms around myself in an attempt to stop more of my body heat from being stolen from me.
Glancing around reveals that It is still in the middle of the night, and there is no sign of either the moon or the sun. The only light to see by is the now weakly glowing embers of the quickly dying campfire.
Even though I wrap my cloak around me in an attempt to ward off the wind, unfortunately it doesn't do much to stop the cold wind from biting into my flesh and stealing all my warmth right out of me.
Instead, I hurriedly feed more firewood to the remains of the campfire that has been reduced to a few weakly glowing coals that barely give any heat anymore. With the use of a little magic to help the fire along, of course.
Before long I have a roaring fire going once again and I huddle close to the fire to warm myself and ward away the cold wind that is mercilessly biting into and chilling any and all of my exposed skin.
"W-What's up with t-this w-wind?!" I say with a partial stutter, as I get hit by some particularly cold and biting winds that sets my teeth to clattering. "W-why is it so c-cold all of a s-sudden?"
No answer is forthcoming however, and I can only clench my teeth and huddle closer to the fire as I continue to feed the fire to help keep me warm.
Somewhere around an hour later, the wind finally started dying down and my chilled and tense body rather quickly recovers to normal body heat levels. Which in turn results in my tense and slightly frozen body quickly starting to relax once again. Along with my body heat levels returning to normal, so too does sleep come calling for me once again as I quickly get lulled back to sleep.
Before long I am once again snoozing next to the roaring campfire, lost in my dreams yet again.
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Awakening once again, this time quite peacefully, I lay still and vacantly stare up at the sky above me for a long few minutes as my mind slowly starts turning once again.
Focusing my vision onto a drifting cloud, I watch the big egg-shaped and fluffy looking cloud slowly drift by above me. "I really miss sleeping in a bed…" I lament quietly to myself as I slowly sit up and sweep my gaze around the area.
After a quick check of the area, I promptly put out the campfire and throw on my water-skins and set off to continue my search for a way up the cliff.
"… Right before I get something to eat." I mutter to myself as my growling stomach makes itself heard. "Damn I'm hungry."
Turning towards the forest, I unhesitatingly walk straight towards the forest only to stop short as a shrill bird cry rings out through the area.
'A bird? And a pretty big one I'd imagine, if the volume is anything to go by…' I muse as I turn in place and search the sky for the source of the sound. It doesn't take long for me to spot the source: A huge monstrosity of a bird that resembles a wandering albatross, if it was 3 times as large. The thing is huge, and visibly casts a shadow on the ground as it passes high up in the sky.
"Hmm… I think I may have an idea." I muse aloud as I gaze up at the gigantic bird above me. "Maybe…?"
Looking around the area, I search for the highest point: A slightly protruding rock which I promptly make my way over to and begin the preparations for my plan.
"Alright, I just need to get up high enough and reasonably close to the bird, and then I can blink onto the bird and use it as a stepping stone to get higher. Easy peasy, right? …" I try to pep myself up as I begin to gather and condense Mana to form a wind based spell to propel me up into the air.
As my preparations finish, I take a deep breath and hold it for a long while as I focus all my thoughts on the task at hand.
"Alright, let's do this!"
End of chapter 40